Invasion Biology

Invasion Biology

Mark A. Davis

Language: English

Pages: 288

ISBN: 0199218765

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub

With the exception of climate change, biological invasions have probably received more attention during the past ten years than any other ecological topic. Yet this is the first synthetic, single-authored overview of the field since Williamson's 1996 book. Written fifty years after the publication of Elton's pioneering monograph on the subject, Invasion Biology provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the science of biological invasions while also offering new insights and perspectives relating to the processes of introduction, establishment, and spread. The book connects science with application by describing the health, economic, and ecological impacts of invasive species as well as the variety of management strategies developed to mitigate harmful impacts. The author critically evaluates the approaches, findings, and controversies that have characterized invasion biology in recent years, and suggests a variety of future research directions. Carefully balanced to avoid distinct taxonomic, ecosystem, and geographic (both investigator and species) biases, the book addresses a wide range of invasive species (including protists, invertebrates, vertebrates, fungi, and plants) which have been studied in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments throughout the world by investigators equally diverse in their origins.

This accessible and thought-provoking text will be of particular interest to graduate level students and established researchers in the fields of invasion biology, community ecology, conservation biology, and restoration ecology. It will also be of value and use to land managers, policy makers, and other professionals charged with controlling the negative impacts associated with recently arrived species.

for these animals. Thus, a more realis- that an effective management approach would be tic approach may be to target the retail end in the to intern alize the costs. process. For example, buyers in many developed The use of tariffs could be an effective way to countries are already now required to pay a recyc- internalize the costs associated with introduced ling or disposal surcharge when buying certain species of this type (Costello and McAusland 2003, items, such as tires and

found to be introduced via escape discovery process (Costello and Solow 2003, Solow or as stowaways. In general, European-introduced and Costello 2004; Fig. 2.10). Recognition of new vertebrates were more often the result of inten- species requires successful dispersal, successful tional releases compared to invertebrates, which establishment, and then also detection (Wonham were more likely introduced via contamination. and Pachepky 2006). On the basis of their analysis, Finally,

dramatically altering physical soil proper- sure during the past two centuries, due to human ties, including temperature and density, the latter activity in the Antarctic region, is a major part of influencing permeability and soil water levels. the explanation for this phenomenon, it is also These physical changes are making these environ- believed that warming temperatures in some areas ments less invasible to some of the native forbs has also played a large role by reducing physio-

would not be Even if propagule pressure does not change from expected to make much of a difference. one year to the next, a temporal change in the trait– invasibility complex could shift the system from a point where successful establishment is very Implications of the invasion cliff unlikely to a point where it would even be expected. As shown above, whatever the number of estab- For example, if the likelihood of establishment per lishing individuals required for a successful inva-

them, while making it more difficult for second alternative will likely be found as more the woody species to establish (Davis et al. 2005d). data sets are accumulated. Sax et al. emphasized Drake et al. (2008) studied the impact of non-native that this simple graphical model could be used plant species on productivity–diversity relation- to compare single sites over time, as their species ships. Comparing the relationship in six differ- compos ition changes, as well as multiple sites in